Alcohol:UK Policy

This article is part of the Spinwatch public health oriented Alcohol Portal project.

Misuse of alcohol costs the NHS around £1.7Bn a year. Binge drinking in particular in younger age brackets is a major problem. In the UK 24% repeatedly have more than 5 drinks when they do drink and a further 25% have between 3-4. In addition to this 'almost half of victims of violent crime believe the offender to be under the influence of alcohol and just over a quarter of all people think that drunk and rowdy behaviour is a problem in their area' Much of this misuse is preventable. For this reason the UK Alcohol Policy exists.

UK policy responses

There are several main policies undertaken in the UK. These typically focus upon reduction, containment, or the displacement of alcohol related problems. Examples of these problems would be such things as excessive noise, antisocial behaviour, underage drinking to name but a few. Reduction of such problems could be dealt with by the enforcement of an age limit for drinkers. Also such short term action as police cracking down on youth drinking by confiscating alcohol on the street is a form of reduction. Containment would be the licensing of outdoor beer gardens in pubs and at events that allows authorities to keep a certain degree of control over drinkers. An example of displacement would be the introduction of the Alcohol Bylaw that forbids people from drinking in public places. When this is enforced it makes sure that people can only drink in private or licensed premises, thus keeping alcohol-related problems to a minimum in the public domain..

Targeting underage drinking

Underage drinking is one of the largest problems faced by the WHO and EU along with the alcohol industry a whole. EU member states are given a certain degree of freedom when it comes to their national alcohol policy. The best example of this would be the differences in age limits to drink in different European countries. The UK is forced to enforce its miniumum drinking age limit every day whether in pubs and club or through high street shops.

These are not the only channels for underagers to get hold of alcohol however. An often overlooked method for procuring alcohol is through irresponsible adults buying it for underage drinkers. Jacqui Smith in her address on the 20th of February 2008 drew to attention the fact that it is not just older teenagers that are buying for younger drinkers but also that parents are actively supplying their children with alcohol. She suggested that legislation must be passed to combat this tricky subject.

In the Autumn of 2007 the UK police ran a half term campaign against underage drinkers in 23 local areas. This purge led to the confiscation of approximately 3,700 litres of alcoholic beverages. Building on the success of this campaign the Police are currently undertaking an identical project in 173 local areas across the UK in the Spring half term of 2008. Campaigns such as this are expected to convey a strong message to underage drinkers and people of the UK as a whole that the problem of underage drinking is being firmly tackled.

Regional issues

At a local level, Glasgow City had the highest alcohol-related death rate among both men and women in 1998-2004. Fifteen of the 20 UK local areas with the highest male alcohol-related death rates were in Scotland. The increase in alcohol-related mortality may be linked to changing consumption patterns such as ‘binge drinking’, changes in the type of alcohol consumed and changing drinking patterns in the young. The increase in the overall level of alcohol consumption between 1991 and 2004 average per capita consumption rose by a quarter, from 9.3 to 11.6 litres of pure alcohol. The new analysis shows a strong association between alcohol death rates and measures of social and economic deprivation. While the analysis was only undertaken in relation to England and Wales, its conclusions are consistent with previous research and the factor of economic deprivation is probably one of the main explanations of the higher alcohol mortality in parts of Scotland, particularly Glasgow.

Discrepancies in datasets

The two main sources of information for UK national alcohol statistics are the Office for National Statistics in the Household Survey and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs excise data. Unfortunately there are vast discrepancies in data gathered on identical subjects between the two sources. In fact alcohol purchases recorded in HM Revenue and customs data are nearly double those in the Office for National Statistics in the Household Survey. There are a plethora of further datasets on alcohol consumption and related health problems. However, these too are rather inaccurate.

In addition there is the problem of differing uses of terminology and the confusion this casts across survey samples. This, of course, subsequently affects the analysis of the data. In addition to this the constant shift of responsibility for recording data with regard to alcohol consumption means that it is almost impossible to see any trends emerging. Despite this, however, some good information does exist on a regional scale.

Related pages

• Brewers of Europe
• Diageo
• European Commission and Alcohol Policy
• Responsibility Deal Alcohol Network
• Behavioural Insights Team